We have issued an update to correct a problem a small number of Mac and 64-bit Linux users have experienced when doing certain types of floating point computations on very recent hardware (such as this report on MaplePrimes: http://www.mapleprimes.com/questions/201815-Problem-Loading-MKL-In-Maple-18). When the problem occurs, instead of giving the result, Maple issues a “lost kernel connection” error message and must be restarted.

While this issue does not occur on most computers, we recommend that all Maple 18 customers running on Mac or 64-bit Linux install this update to ensure they do not encounter this problem. This update can be safely applied to any Mac or 64-bit Linux computer. Windows and 32-bit Linux users do not need, and cannot install, this update.

To get this update, you can use Tools>Check for Updates from within Maple, or visit Maple 18.01a Downloads.

eithne

Announcing the 2014 Maple T.A. User Summit

Maplesoft will be hosting the 2014 Maple T.A. User Summit this October 22-24 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. This conference discusses important trends in education, how technology is changing, and what all this means for educators and students. This is an opportunity for Maple T.A. users to learn first-hand how Maple T.A. is transforming testing and assessment, and non-users can also benefit by learning about current and future trends in online education.

Conference highlights include:

• Expert advice from long term users on how they’re using Maple T.A.
• Comprehensive hands-on Maple T.A. training
• Demonstration of new features in Maple T.A., and where the technology is heading
• Social events with Maplesoft staff and other educators from around the world

We invite users who are using Maple T.A. in an innovative way in their classroom to submit a presentation proposal by July 15th, 2014. For details, please visit: https://webstore.maplesoft.com/taconference/MapleTA_Summit_CFP.pdf

For more details, preliminary agenda, and to register, please visit our website: https://webstore.maplesoft.com/taconference/  

Jonny
Maplesoft Product Manager, Maple T.A.

Maplesoft regularly hosts live webinars on a variety of topics. Below you will find details on some upcoming webinars we think may be of interest to the MaplePrimes community.  For the complete list of upcoming webinars, visit our website.

Bring Statistics Education to Life!

This exciting new webinar will demonstrate some of the ways that educators can take advantage of Maple’s symbolic and numeric approach for statistics education. Examples will include basic statistics theory including descriptive statistics such as measures of central tendency and spread, hypothesis testing, as well as discrete and continuous random variables.

Many examples presented in this webinar will be taken from the new Student Statistics package that was introduced in Maple 18. The Student Statistics was designed with classroom use in mind, and features detailed explanations and instructions, interactive demonstrations, and visualizations, all of which are great learning tools for teaching a course involving probability and statistics.

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

Symbolic Computing for Engineering

As engineering applications become more complex, it is becoming increasingly difficult to satisfy the often-conflicting project constraints using traditional tools. As a result, we’ve found there is a growing interest within the engineering community for tools that make engineering calculations transparent and capture not just results but also the knowledge and analysis used throughout the engineering workflow. Engineering organizations are achieving this goal by making symbolic techniques an integral part of their tool set.

In this webinar, Laurent Bernardin will demonstrate how to enhance the early-stage design phase by making mathematical computations explicit and transparent, and then integrating the results into an existing tool chain.

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

We have just released an all-new, second edition of the Calculus Study Guide.

This guide has been completely rewritten and greatly expanded and to take full advantage of Maple’s Clickable Math approach.  It covers all of Calculus I and Calculus II and has over 450 worked examples, the vast majority of which are solved using interactive, Clickable Math techniques. 

Not only is this guide useful for students learning calculus, but it can also serve as a guide for instructors interested in pursuing a syntax-free approach to using Maple in their teaching.

See Clickable Calculus Study Guide for more information.  For even more information, you could also attend a live webinar about the new study guide next Wednesday.

eithne

Maplesoft regularly hosts live webinars on a variety of topics. Below you will find details on some upcoming webinars we think may be of interest to the MaplePrimes community.  For the complete list of upcoming webinars, visit our website.

Hollywood Math (with more new examples!)

Over its storied and intriguing history, Hollywood has entertained us with many mathematical moments in film. John Nash in “A Beautiful Mind,” the brilliant janitor in “Good Will Hunting,” the number theory genius in “Pi,” and even Abbott and Costello are just a few of the Hollywood “mathematicians” that come to mind.

Although the widespread presentation of mathematics on the silver screen is not always entirely accurate, it does serve as a great introduction to the study of mathematics in general. During this webinar Maplesoft will present a number of examples of mathematics in film. See relevant, exciting examples that you can use to engage your students.At the end of the webinar you’ll be given an opportunity to download an application containing all of the Hollywood examples that we demonstrate.

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

Applications of Symbolic Computation in Control Design

You may already use Maple and/or MapleSim within your organization to solve various problems, but did you know that they have capabilities for control design as well? In one of our upcoming featured webinars for this month, we will explore the Control Design toolbox including the ability to extract symbolic equations of plant models, perform symbolic linearization, design symbolic controllers, and generate very fast code for HIL testing.

The following examples will be demonstrated:

• PID Control

• LQR, Kalman filter design

• Gain scheduling

• Feedback linearization

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

Updates are now available for both Maple 18 and MapleSim 6.4.

Maple 18.01 includes a variety of enhancements, including:

• Significantly enhanced  efficiency for many  numerical linear algebra computations
• New keyboard shortcuts for “Execute All” ([Ctrl or Cmd]+[Shift]+[Enter]) and for entering slideshow mode ([F11] or [Cmd]+[F11])
• Improved export of 2-D plots
• PDF export improvements for documents that include  code edit regions
• Enhancements to the limit command

 To get this update, you can use Tools>Check for Updates from within Maple, or visit Maple 18.01 Downloads.

MapleSim 6.4.01 includes:

• Improvements to the templates for creating custom components using discrete state space and discrete transfer function descriptions
• Improved handling of variable names that include both symbols and numbers
• UTF-8 filename support
• Improved backwards compatibility of the Parameter Inspector with older models

In MapleSim, use  Help>Check for Updates or visit MapleSim 6.4.01 Update. For best performance, we recommend that you run MapleSim 6.4.01 with Maple 18.01.

eithne

Updates are now available for both Maple 18 and MapleSim 6.4.

Maple 18.01 includes a variety of enhancements, including:

• Significantly enhanced  efficiency for many  numerical linear algebra computations
• New keyboard shortcuts for “Execute All” ([Ctrl or Cmd]+[Shift]+[Enter]) and for entering slideshow mode ([F11] or [Cmd]+[F11])
• Improved export of 2-D plots
• PDF export improvements for documents that include  code edit regions
• Enhancements to the limit command

 To get this update, you can use Tools>Check for Updates from within Maple, or visit Maple 18.01 Downloads.

MapleSim 6.4.01 includes:

• Improvements to the templates for creating custom components using discrete state space and discrete transfer function descriptions
• Improved handling of variable names that include both symbols and numbers
• UTF-8 filename support
• Improved backwards compatibility of the Parameter Inspector with older models

In MapleSim, use  Help>Check for Updates or visit MapleSim 6.4.01 Update. For best performance, we recommend that you run MapleSim 6.4.01 with Maple 18.01.

eithne

Voting is now open for the next individual prize to be awarded as part of the Möbius App Challenge.  The winner will receive an Xbox One Prize Pack! 

Here are the finalist Apps:

• Fixed Point Equation
• Testing Convergence of a Series
• Mod-N-Calulator
• Epsilon-delta Limit Definition

Note that, if you ever have any problems viewing Apps in your browser, or simply want to work offline, you can always download a Möbius App and view it in Maple or the free Maple Player. To download a Möbius App, follow the link to the App and then click on the Download button near the top left of the page.

You can vote for your favorite through our Facebook page or, if you’re not on Facebook, send an email with your vote to Mobius-Project@maplesoft.com.

And remember, we are now accepting entries for the next quarterly prize. You could win a Music Prize Pack, including the 64GB 5th Generation Apple iPod Touch, Sennheiser In-Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones and the Bose SoundLink Bluetooth Speaker III!  See the Möbuis App Challenge for details.

Voting closes April 25^th, 2014.

As a reminder, we regularly host live webinars on a variety of topics for our customers, and we wanted to make this information available to the MaplePrimes community as well.

This featured webinar for this month will outline the Finance Package in Maple 18 including capabilities like the mathematical, statistical, and connectivity tools required to analyse data, calculate forecasts, estimate risks, prototype and develop quantitative algorithms, and leverage parallel programming techniques.

Other topics include:

• Data feed connectivity and system integration

• Price equity and interest rate derivatives

• Populate reporting tools, deliver documents and share worksheets

• Optimize portfolios of financial instruments

• High-Performance Computing (HPC)

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

We regularly host live webinars on a variety of topics for our customers, and we wanted to make this information available to the MaplePrimes community as well. We will be posting information about new webinars we think will be of interest approximately once per month.

Partnering with the MAA to Revolutionize Placement Testing

In this webinar, we will demonstrate how the Maple T.A. MAA Placement Test Suite can be used to ease the problem of placement testing and how it can benefit your campus in general.

Other topics include:

• How placement testing contributes to student success

• How the MAA placement tests are created, and rigorously validated

• How valid and reliable the MAA placement tests are for entry level mathematics courses

• How you can use the Maple T.A. Placement Test Suite for easy administration, flexible delivery, and fast results

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

We regularly host live webinars on a variety of topics for our customers, and we wanted to make this information available to the MaplePrimes community as well. We will be posting information about new webinars we think will be of interest approximately once per month.

Partnering with the MAA to Revolutionize Placement Testing

In this webinar, we will demonstrate how the Maple T.A. MAA Placement Test Suite can be used to ease the problem of placement testing and how it can benefit your campus in general.

Other topics include:

• How placement testing contributes to student success

• How the MAA placement tests are created, and rigorously validated

• How valid and reliable the MAA placement tests are for entry level mathematics courses

• How you can use the Maple T.A. Placement Test Suite for easy administration, flexible delivery, and fast results

To join us for the live presentation, please click here to register.

I just wanted to remind everyone that this quarter's Möbius App Challenge closes on March 31st.  The next prize to be awarded is an Xbox One Prize Pack.  Video games are supposed to be good for the brain, after all, so really, you owe it to yourself to enter.

To enter the contest, all you need to do is:

1) Create an interactive App in Maple

2) While in Maple, log-in to the MapleCloud through the MapleCloud palette.

3) Click on the Send Document to the Cloud button

4) Set the group to "Mobius@admin", then hit send.

The group is moderated, so it won't appear instantly, but once approved it will appear on the Möbius Project server, where people can interact with it through a web browser, in Maple, or download it for use with the free Maple Player.

Here are the full contest details and more information on creating and submitting Apps.

Good luck!

Kim

MapleSim 6.4 includes more powerful tools for creating custom components, performance enhancements, and enhancements to the model generators for Simulink® and FMI. 

We have also made important updates to the MapleSim Control Design Toolbox. This toolbox now offers a more complete set of algorithms for PID control, new commands for computing closed-loop transfer functions, and numerous improvements to existing commands. These enhancements allow engineers to design a greater variety of controllers and controller-observer systems while taking advantage of the greater flexibility and analysis options available through the use of symbolic parameters. 

See What’s New in MapleSim 6.4 and What’s New in the MapleSim Control Design Toolbox for details.

eithne

Maplesoft is holding its first ever Virtual User Summit on Feb. 27.  You’ll be able to watch presentations by both Maplesoft and Maplesoft customers, ask questions, have discussions in the lounge with other attendees, and even enter a draw, all from the comfort of your own home or office.

Here’s the agenda.  We’ll release more detailed information on speakers and session times in the next couple of weeks.

For more information and to register:  Maplesoft Virtual User Conference

We're looking forward to seeing you there. (Well, "seeing you" :-))

eithne

Voting is open for the next individual prize to be awarded as part of the Möbius App Challenge.  The winner will receive a DSLR Camera Prize Pack! 

Here are the finalist Apps:

• Interactive Beam Analysis
• Heat Equation
• Ellipse
• Solving Systems of Equations

If you do not have the latest version of Java installed, released last week, you may have problems viewing these apps, as older versions of Java seem to be quietly disabling themselves.  I’ve attached a zip file of the finalist Apps in case it is helpful. finalists.zip

Note that, if you ever have any problems viewing Apps in your browser, or simply want to work offline, you can always download a Möbius App and view it in Maple or the free Maple Player. To download a Möbius App, follow the link to the App and then click on the Download button near the top left of the page.

You can vote for your favorite through our Facebook page or, if you’re not on Facebook, send an email with your vote to Mobius-Project@maplesoft.com.

And remember, we are now accepting entries for the next quarterly prize. You could win an Xbox One!  See the Möbuis App Challenge for details.

Voting closes Jan. 30.

eithne